Step 1: Self-Awareness

We don't often "see" our own culture and tend to assume everyone else is just like us and speaks the same language, laughs at the same jokes, and understands the same idioms and slang terms. To build awareness, get off autopilot and think of communicating cross-culturally as driving in a foreign country. The car may feel the same, but the traffic laws and signs are different. If you don't pay close attention, you could get into an accident.